Poker Hand RanksTo be successful at poker, one must know how each hand compares to the others. Here are the hands listed from best to worst:

Royal Flush – 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace of the same suit

Straight Flush – Any five cards in rank order and of the same suit. A-2-3-4-5 of Diamonds is an example.

Four of a Kind – four cards of the same kind (ex: K-K-K-K). The final card can be anything.

Full House – three cards of the same kind plus 2 cards of the same kind. (ex: A-A-A-K-K) In the example, this is expressed as Full House, Ace over Kings.

Flush – Any five cards of the same suit (ex: A-3-5-7-9 of Diamonds).

Straight – Any five cards,unsuited, in rank order (ex: A-2-3-4-5 of different suits)

Three of a Kind – Three cards of the same kind (ex: K-K-K). The final two cards can be anything other than a pair or the final card of the same kind.

Two Pair – Any two pairs of any card.

One Pair – Any one pair of any card.

High Card – Any hand that doesn’t fall under the above categories.

Note: when two or more players have the same type of hand, whoever has the better of that type (Rules for High Card) wins the pot. For example: 2-3-4-5-6 of Hearts VS 3-4-5-6-7 of Clubs. The person with the Clubs wins the pot. The exception to this rule is when 2 or more people have a Royal Flush; therefore, the pot is split.

Rules for High CardThe player who has the highest card wins. Incase of a tie, the 2nd card comes into play. Subsequent cards come into play until a winner is determined. If all the cards are the same in both players’ hands, then the pot is split.

ProbabilitiesTo figure out the probabilities, we must first determine how many different 5 card combinations there are. Within a single deck of cards (discarding jokers), there are 2,598,960 different 5 card hands. (Some probabilities are rounded up)